South Africa’s advertising watchdog has ruled against MTN for deceptive marketing of its ‘Shesh@600’ data promotion. The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) found the campaign misled consumers by prominently advertising 600GB of monthly data for R399 without clearly stating that half required reliable 5G coverage. This comes after a customer complaint revealed the offer actually consisted of two separate 300GB bundles – one at full 5G speeds and another capped at 20Mbps.
The regulator determined MTN violated advertising standards by creating unrealistic expectations, particularly since many areas lack stable 5G connectivity. While MTN pointed to fine print in its terms and conditions, the ARB maintained the social media promotions should have been clearer about potential limitations. This marks the second ruling on this product within a month, though the previous complaint was dismissed when MTN proved the full data allowance was technically possible.
As part of the ruling, MTN must now modify all Shesh@600 advertisements to explicitly warn customers about the 5G dependency. The ARB has also instructed media platforms to reject any future MTN ads that don’t properly disclose these restrictions. This decision highlights growing scrutiny of telecom marketing practices and reinforces the need for transparent communication about service limitations, especially regarding next-generation network capabilities that may not be universally available.